Eric Smith’s first book really captured my attention since it was about videogames and being a female who loves to game. I was really excited to learn about his latest book and obviously had to jump at the chance to read it! Although it didn’t surpass his first book for me, I liked a lot of aspects about this book as well as the mentioning of Blizzard Entertainment because I play their game World of Warcraft.

The book is split into two point-of-views: Adam and Whitney. Adam’s family owns a dying out arcade that is filled with pinball machines, some being a rare find. I thought this was a cool nod to the earlier years of gaming as well as giving us a cool setting for some of the book. Whitney’s family owns an esports café which is the latest craze in gaming. I liked how their businesses showed the progression of gaming. Adam and Whitney used to be friends and since they are no longer Adam has a bit of a grudge for multiple reasons against her family and because of this there is a lot of banter between the two!

If you liked Tweet Cute and the exchanges those characters had over Twitter then you may like this one as Adam and Whitney argue over social media which also brings in other people as well. Ah, the internet! Got to love it. Some of these bystanders are other businesses that are local. This was an amazing way to show community and how small acts can bring people together especially during tough times like a blizzard. It also was funny to see some of the other shops banter back and forth as well.

You can find romance in this book and I would definitely say it can be considered enemies-to-lovers. I guess it would be more like friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers. It’s a complicated mess but what relationship, including friendship, isn’t? Ha. They suffered a falling out for a reason that is found out later in the book. I can understand both sides for this and I think Adam and Whitney tried their best in their own way. I did like a lot of the moments they shared together while being on friendly terms and thought they were really cute.

This book isn’t just about games or romance but also about grief, friendships, and learning to just say how you feel. There is a lot packed in but each one is sure to resonate with readers in one way or another.

Overall, this was a good book and had a lot of great aspects. I definitely would recommend for those wanting a book with a cute romance filled with banter!

Rating: 3.5 stars

I first started following Eric Smith's social media when he was a host of the Hey YA podcast. I saw the cover reveal for You Can Go Your Own Way and preordered it--but when I saw it available on NetGalley, I thought I'd get a sneak peek. First off, this novel made me want to go to Philly. I've passed through Pennsylvania quite a few times, but have never been on vacation. The way his characters connected to their surroundings was meaningful and made it sound like a great place to be. Otherwise, the start of this book was difficult for me in that the characters of Whitney and Adam were not my type of people, maybe because the growth they needed hit a little too close to home. This is a story about letting go of the things that no longer serve you and holding on to the parts that do, something I definitely struggle with and it was hard to watch these characters struggle too. About 60% of the way through the book, I started making connections with them. Finally (and without spoilers) when Adam starts taking a hard look at the pinball machines toward the end of the book, Smith had me in tears. This is not your typical romance, but rather romance is on the edges of the story as another thing to consider when making changes in your life. It's more about friendship, how complex friendship can be, and how close to romantic love friendship can sometimes feel. I know I'll be thinking about this book for a while and I'll definitely pass it on to my students who enjoy well developed characters and setting. Thanks so much to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel! Review posted on Goodreads.

This was a good story although a little slow for this reader. I’m not much of a fan of love stories nor gaming so that may have played a factor.,

Adam Stillwater is dealing with a lot of issues In his young life and is in over his head. A big concern is the pinball arcade business which frankly, is is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left. He s bound and determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his eSports businesses; a cold, lifeless gaming cafe.

Whitney Mitchell has her own share of travails. Her parents split up. Her boyfriend dumped her. Her friends seem to have changed overnight. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain of super successful gaming cafés. The social media presence consists mostly of trading insults with that decrepit, outdated pinball arcade across town.

Here I began to see the foreshadowing between Adam and Whitney.

One day the town is blasted with a huge snowstorm. Adam and Whitney suddenly find themselves trapped inside the arcade. Cut off from their families, their worlds, and their responsibilities, the tension between them begins to dissolve. This unexpected closeness burns through the differences.
But what happens to the newfound relationship when the storm no longer has them trapped together.

This is my first book by Eric Smith but it won’t be my last. The title (Fleetwood Mac!) and cover caught my attention but I was delighted to realize that this takes place in Philadelphia so it was fun seeing all the little references and shoutouts.

The plot revolves around two characters, Adam and Whitney, and each chapter starts with one character’s perspective. Adam’s father passed away a few years ago; he and his mom are trying to keep his dad’s pinball arcade going. Whitney was Adam’s former friend, her dad now owns e-sports cafes and would like to turn the pinball arcade into a new location. Whitney and Adam hey drifted apart (and became vitriolic on their family’s businesses social media accounts that they run) during Adam’s grief after his father’s passing. Just as Adam and Whitney were starting to be civil to each other, they get snowed in overnight in the pinball arcade. This is definitely an enemies-to-lovers YA novel.

Since I talk to more teenagers than adults in my job, I found that the teen voices sounded pretty authentic. There were a couple of lines that came across strangely. The pop-culture references landed for me and Adam’s penchant for “old” music (read: anyone who is an elder millennial would recognize) was believable since it was a way for him to connect to his dad.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this ARC and I thought the local businesses' social media accounts were done very well. This story hits a little deeper than most YA books since grief/moving on is a theme in addition to authentic friendships & complicated family relationships. I think mature middle schoolers & high schoolers (and anyone who spent any time in Philly) would be the perfect audience for this.

You Can Go Your Own Way is a new YA Contemporary by Eric Smith. This is my first time reading the author, but I thoroughly enjoyed his writing and plan to read some of his other works in the future.

Adam and Whitney were best of friends as kids until the summer before high school when Adam's dad passed away. Him drowning in his grief led to her finding other friends, who I'd classify as mean girls, and their friendship was severed. Now it is senior year, and they are both struggling under the weight of their parent's businesses. After a series of events cause them to call a truce, and then they end up snowed in alone overnight at Adam's families pinball arcade, they rekindle their friendship and more mature feelings along with it. But when Adam's nightmare happens, it will break what they started and change who they both are and their futures.

I quite enjoyed You Can Go Your Own Way. I enjoyed both character's point of views and even though I wanted to shake Whitney once or twice, it was good to see her perspective of what went wrong in their friendship. I loved her personal growth and her finally stepping up to her dad at the end, even if his response was a bit too little too late. Adam was my favorite of the two. I loved his pinball ramblings, his old school music, and throwback knowledge. There was a good amount of teen drama, but not overly so. It wasn't the main driving force of the plot, which I appreciated, along with the big conflict not being stupid but a realistic reaction to the situation. The book's focus was on Adam's continual grief over his father and his struggle to let go and focus on what would make him happy. It was also about mending Adam and Whitney's friendship and second chances. The romance aspect of their relationship was really sweetly done, very low steam and fit the story perfectly.

You Can GO Your Own Way by Eric Smith is filled with mending friendship, personal growth, twitter fights, cactus' appreciation, Swedish fish heart to hearts, pinball greatness, and a snowed in with one blanket scenario.

If you’re going to have a Fleetwood Mac song as a title you better follow up with a book that hits you right where you need it to. Go Your Own Way does exactly that. It’s a beautiful story of friendship, family and finding your way through your grief. The story has a unique ability to make you connect with characters on multiple levels. I adored Adam and Whitney. I couldn’t have loved the story more. It was charming, funny and heartfelt.

One of the things I like about Eric Smith is that he makes his books, which are essentially YA romance, easily accessible to both teenage boys and teenage girls. Usually I hesitate to suggest a book that is focused on things like friendship and teen angst to boys because they blanch at the idea. Eric's stories feel less "fluffy" than others, and the backdrop (video games, internet culture, etc) make them easily relatable for today's teens.

I’ve read one other book from this author and what I love about his work is that he writes about young adults and gaming. In You Can Go Your Own Way, we have old school gaming – pinball machines and on the opposite end with have the esports cafes that are overtaking these gaming arcades from the 80’s. As an 80’s kid myself the pinball machines are nostalgic, along with the many 80’s/90’s music references. As a mom of two kids who are already gamers, I’m always telling my son how these days he could get a major in esports! What a time to be alive, right? Who would’ve thought?

Adam and his mom are trying to keep their dad’s pinball arcade alive, but the dad of his ex-friend Whitney, who is now an esports cafe owner wants to buy their place and turn it into another cafe location. Adam and Whitney both run the social media accounts for their family businesses and constantly get into a twitter war. But through a series of events, Adam and Whitney find themselves talking again and making up in a deeper way.

Adam is dealing with a lot of grief from his dad’s passing and it was heartwarming how he wanted to keep the pinball arcade because of it. It’s an emotional journey he goes through because he knows he will have to let go soon.

Whitney is the popular girl with her clique and she goes through some changes as well. She realizes with her dad’s new fame and wealth, people only want her for her connection to him. She has to navigate some of her feelings and work up the nerve to tell her dad how she feels.

Random Notes:
Triggers: grief

I did sympathize with Adam but Whitney does come off as the popular girl who dissed people. She has remorse over how she used to act when she was her clique of friends – but I don’t know that I saw a major change in her except being friends with Adam again.

The romance was a bit lacking for me. It’s supposed to come off as a friends to enemies to lovers kind of thing but the “lovers” part comes so fast. I just didn’t feel it between them but then again, I liked my enemies to be really hating one another. The way they get together eventually is sweet and cute, but I just wanted more passion.

Final Thoughts:
I wish I connected more to the characters and story but my lack of connection didn’t take away from the message of the story. This book is a look into the past and how to move on into the future with Adam dealing with his grief over his father and losing the pinball arcade they loved as a family. It gives some great lessons about appreciating what is important, being present in the moment and learning to let go in order to let other blessings in.

As a girl from Philly, after reading You Can Go Your Own Way, I needed to take a trip down to Old City and visit the Franklin Fountain for some ice cream! I just wish the pinball parlor was there to visit as well. Loved this enemies to lovers tale set in my favorite city!

I was really excited for the premise of this book. I love a YA rom com, and work with young readers who I love recommending upcoming books to. This book fell a little flat for me. It’s tricky as adults to write teens, and some of the dialogue (ex. Whitney saying “busting my chops”), cultural references (ex. music during the house party in chapter 2), and inaccurate depictions of twitter (might be a formatting thing with the ebook but the arbitrary number of likes during the initial feud didn’t make sense and they weren’t included later) pulled me out of the story because it didn’t make sense for contemporary teens.

This is a great book about friendship, love, rivalry between businesses and pinball! Adam helps to run his late father's small pinball arcade. Whitney is constantly looking for her father's attention by helping with social media for his business as it is trying to overtake Adam's pinball arcade. When these two former friends get caught in a snowstorm and spend time together in Adam's arcade, can they put their differences aside and find each other?Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a feel good story full of valuable lessons such as living in the present, appreciating the people you love while they are still around, how grief is handled differently by everyone, and the importance of standing up for yourself and the people you care about. Experiencing the story from both Whitney and Adams' perspectives really added to the emotional aspect of the story in my opinion, and I loved the character growth throughout the novel. This was my first Eric Smith read and I am looking forward to reading their other novels!

Ps. That cliffhanger at the end?! Please say we get to see more of Whitney and Adam soon! :)

I felt misled by the summary. I was 60% into the book and the plot I believed that was going to happen still didn’t. Regardless, I thought the book was very cute! However, I felt like the book had so much potential to really use the angst from Whitney and Adam’s failed friendship, as well as what was going on with their lives, to create more of a tension between them. After years of not even speaking, they just suddenly start opening up to each other? Still, I thought their relationship was cute and I wanted so much more. I also thought the ending was very rushed. There was almost zero to no closure for the characters except for Adam and the arcade and Whitney with her father. What about Whitney and her friends? Surely she should’ve confronted them more, especially Sophie and Patrick. And personally, I felt that all the writing surrounding the lights and mechanisms put me in a slump with this book. However, that’s just me and my brain! Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I was left feeling disappointed because I thought it could have been so much better.

You Can Go Your Own Way was a fun, sweet story, reminiscent of Shop Around the Corner or You’ve Got Mail. It didn’t do anything groundbreaking in terms of story or characters, but the story was heartwarming, the characters realistic and engaging, and overall it’s a great pick for any lover of YA romance.

I wanted to like this one, but I didn't really like Adam or Whitney. I liked how they helped each other work through their stuff and found more than they were looking for in each other during the storm but I just didn't really connect with them.
I liked the look at grief over loss and finding your way while working through it. And I thought the stuff with the Swedish fish was funny. I also liked that the title was a song title. Cute but not my fave.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was such a cute story. Retro meets modern in this contemporary about a boy who helps his mom run a pinball arcade, and a girl who runs an esports cafe. The two are former best friends turned rivals. When a snowstorm traps the two at an arcade, the two learn about each other and themselves. Such an adorable and dorky story.

This book is really heartwarming! I loved the characters and Whitney and Adam are perfect! It had a nice message to it and it was just a very touching story!

This is one of those books that retells the "Shop Around the Corner" theme. Hence, one protagonist is the son of small town shop, other protagonist is the daughter of big time shop that wants to buy out little guy. An added twist is that these two were best friends back in the day before her family hit it big. Therefore, it has some Melissa Joan Hart, "Drive Me Crazy" film vibes as well.

The pinball world is a really unique twist. The idea behind pinball nostalgia adds a really nice level to this story, as does the online argument that will make you laugh out loud.

Romance readers are going to love this one. Put this book in the hands of Kasie West, Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, Emma Lord, and Rainbow Rowell.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This was a really fun read for the gamer geeks among us! We got some serious nostalgia with the pinball arcade, more current vibes with the eGaming cafe, and plenty of feel good vibes with the awesome "Old City" area full of awesome stores, shops, boutiques, and restaurants!
Adam and Whitney are great MCs, and I love Chris' tradition of pairing big feels with Swedish Fish! We got some great tropes here - Friends to enemies to lovers, snowed in, just one bed (or in this case, one blanket). A fun and light read that hits the YA contemporary button perfectly!

What a wonderfully sweet YA novel about love and loss and being found again. Adam Stillwater lost his father and also lost his good friend Whitney Mitchell once they started high school. Adam's dad had built a pinball arcade in Philadelphia, and Adam and his mom have tried to keep it going since his death. Whitney is running the social media for her dad's gaming café in an attempt to spend some time with her dad. Adam and Whitney have become engaged in a social media war which comes to a head when Whitney's brother, Nick, breaks one of the pinball machines. Over the next few day's, both Whitney and Adam start to figure out what is really important to them, how to move beyond past hurts and into a more promising future. Add a brutal winter storm and Eric Smith gives us a wonderful story of what it takes to find out what is really important in life.